Attention please! 📢 Can we get a vibe check on aisle America? Lately, it seems like we’re eating a bowl of Spaghetti-uh-ohs, cooked up by Chef Boy-Are-We-Screwed. 🧑🍳🍝
The bad vibes sure are making their way across the nation, but are things really as bad as they seem? 🤔 A little buzzword known as “vibecession” is also making its way around and we’ve got the scoop on what it means. 👇
Here’s Five Fast Facts on what it means to be in a vibecession:
- 🫗 Glass Half Empty - The term “vibecession” was created by economics writer Kyla Scanlon (check out her Substack newsletter). A vibecession happens when there’s disconnect between the economy and the public's Negative Nancy views of it. In other words, we could think things are worse than they actually are.
- 🧾 Bills, Bills, Bills - Let’s look at some of the reasons why a vibecession happens. One factor is the sticky price increases that are still hanging around from our latest inflation spikes. Inflation might be down, but we’re still paying significantly more than we used to. Gas prices are almost double than they were three years ago and food prices are up 20%.
- 🏘️ Home Sweet Doom - Another reason: the housing market. Interest rate hikes have caused mortgage rates to skyrocket. Home prices are also at an all-time high and home inventory levels are super low. This portion of the vibe check could improve once the Fed finally cuts rates and things level off.
- 💼 Gig Order - Talking heads might say the jobs numbers are better than ever, but they can be misleading. Although the latest report had an estimated 90,000 added jobs, many of them were part-time. When Americans need to take on a second job to make ends meet, you know the vibe’s tanking.
- 📰 Fake News - Election season’s in full swing and mainstream media loves slinging doom and gloom. They’re laying it on thick with bad news, making us all forget that there is some good mixed in there. When the media’s pumping out apocalyptic messaging, it’s no wonder the public is bracing themselves for a bad vibe monsoon.
🔥Bottom line: No matter what the vibes are, the important thing is staying grounded in your own financial reality. While we’re on the topic of vibe checks, have you heard of consumer sentiment? It’s another measurement that lets us know how the economy’s doing. Catch up on what it all means here.
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